Packing machinery



Aug. 28, 1934. J. PERT 1,971,875

' PACKING MACHINERY Filed March 29, 1955 2 Shees-Sht 1 [NI/EN T019 Aug. 28, 1-934. Q

' PACKING MACHINERY Filed March 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 28, 1934 UNITED STATES 1,971,875.] PACKING MACHINERY Joseph Pert, DeptforeLLondon, England Application Mai-ch29, 1933, Serial No. 663,395-

In Great Britain April 1, 1982 2 Claims. (Cl. 19817i!) This invention is for improvements in packing machinery, and relates more particularly to a conveyor for use on automatic wrapping machines of the type wherein a block shaped article or i batch of articles is moved by one of a series of pusher-pieces spaced at intervals along the conveyor into contact with a length of, wrapping material fed across the path of the conveyor.

The wrapping material and the'article are thereafter moved through folding ,mechanism which folds the strip of wrapping material about the articleinto a U shaped block ended package open at the rear end. The open endof the package has to be subsequently folded over to coma plete thewrapping'and must be removed from the pusher piece for this purpose, and it is important that the removal of the pusher piece, shall not disturb the overhanging portions of the wrapping material, or otherwise the sealing operation will be difficult. The removal of the pusher piece is therefore executedin such a manner that it retreats from theopen end, of the package without disturbing the folds, the package being usually carried onwards by other mechanism from the point where the pusher piece commences to retreat and generally, to commence to disappear beneath the bed of the machine.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for guiding the conveyor so that 3d; each pusher piece may be withdrawn from the open end of the package more satisfactorily and easily than has been possible hitherto, and the speed of the machine raised accordingly.

The present invention comprises a conveyor for a packing machine having pusher pieces spaced at intervals along its length, to carry a series of articles through wrapping mechanism where a strip of wrapping material is folded around each article to form a U shaped block ended package 49, open at the rear end, said conveyor being arranged to move through a closed path of such form that the path, immediately after the point where each pusher leaves its package, forms an acute angle with the operative portion of th path.

One way of carrying the invention into efiect will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

: Figure 1 is a section of the bed of the packing machine provided with a conveyor constructed according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a section of the upper portion of Figure 1 on the line 22.

Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 show, diagrammatically,

the movements of the pusher piece veyor at the turning points. 7

Referring to the drawings, the pusher pieces 1 aregmounted on carriages 2 which are carried by a pair of endless conveyor chains 3.] The conveyor chains are mounted one at each side of the bed of the machine as shown in Figure 2 and followthe path shown in Figure 1. The upper run of the conveyor chains is parallel to the bed of the machine,-and when the pusher pieces are passing along this portion of the path theyare conveying the articles to be wrapped through the wrapping mechanism, but at the forward end of'the bed where'each pusher piece, in turn, is withdrawn from the open end of the package, the chains passover sprockets 4 and assume a downward path which makes an angle of, say, 45 to the former path. When this path has been pursued to an extent sufiicient to of the concompletely withdrawthe pusher piece from the package, the chains pass around further sprockets 5'and then run parallel to the bed of the machine until they reach the rear end thereof when they pass over sprocket wheels 6 and ,7 which cause the chains to traverse an upward path at so rightangles to the bed-0f the machine, thus completing the cycle described'by the chains.

The carriage 2 on which a pusher piece is mounted, comprises a horizontal plate 8 with flanged portions 9 at each end, see Figure 2, each 35; flange lying parallel to the plane, which includes the paths of the neighbouring chain and near to each chain. The flanges are each provided with a slot 10 at their leading ends, the axes of the slots being disposed parallel to the bed of the machine when the pusher is moving along the top surface of the bed, as shown in Figure 1.

Each flange is provided with three rollers 11, 12, and 13, the rollers 11 and 12 running in a grooved rail 14, at each side of the bed, and the 9 upper one coming into contact at the ends of the upper path with short rails 15 and 16 as hereinafter described. The pusher piece is fixed to the carriage, as shown in Figure 2, and projects above the bed through a central slot 17. A further roller 18 is provided on the carriage for the purpose to be described later.

The operation of the device is as follows Each pusher piece 1 travels along the surface of the bed in the usual manner until it reaches a position in the neighbourhood of the sprocket 4 at which point the pusher piece begins to leave the package.

The carriage 2 is guided by the rollers 11 and 12 which run in the grooved rails 14, previously 1 mentioned, and when the carriage reaches the forward end of its travel the slot 10 in each flange engages with a fixed round bar 19 disposed slightly in advance of the sprockets 4. The rails 15 guide the carriage across the space between the rails 14 and the sprockets 4 because the rollers 11 and 12 are clear of the rails 14 at this point to enable the carriage to fall back as described later. The carriage 2 is connected to the conveyor chains by pivoted links 20 which are secured in the usual manner to the rivets of the chain so that with this construction the carriage can swing about the pivots when-free to do so.

After the carriage hasengaged the bar 19 by means of the slots 10, the chainsv continue along the angular path above mentioned, and, the pusher piece is consequently tilted backwards, pivoting and sliding around the bar 19 in the manner shown in Figure 3. I

In order to guide the conveyor on the sloping path downwards'another grooved rail 21 is provided for each conveyor chain in which the rollersll run. 1

At the end of the downward path, both rollers 11 and 12 come on to rails 22, similar to the rails 14, exceptthat the upper portion is cut away. at 23 for some distance in order'to leave clearance for the carriage'as the latter is assuming-the horizontal path. The motion just described is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 4.

The carriage then travels along the bottom rails ,22 with the pusher piece still pointing in the operative direction, and at the end of the bed it is carried upwardly by thevertical run of the chains being guided during this motion as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

A curved rail 23 is fixed to the bed and engages the roller 18 at the centre ofthe carriage and other'rails 24 engage with the rollers 12 so that the carriage is maintained in a substantially horizontal position during the upward movement.

As the chains pass around the upper sprockets 7, the carriage is tilted slightly by guide 25 as the rollers 11 run up leads into the grooved rails 14, and as this is occurring the rollers 13 run on to the extension rails 16 and maintain the carriage in the desired position.

The conveyor pathneed not necessarily be exactly as shown, as the path which it takes beneath the bed may be of any kind, provided that the portion where the pushers disappear beneath the bed is at an acute angle to the portion above the bed.

It will be seen, therefore, that with the arrangement described, the pusher pieces are definitely under control at all points along their entire path, and that they are always held in a direction corresponding approximately to their op- V erative position, which facts combine to greatly increase the output of the machine as compared with'machines previously in use.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an endless conveyor having pusher pieces spaced at intervals thereon to push a series of articles through a machine, a guide member constraining the pusher pieces to move through a straight operative path and another guide member downwardly disposed at an angle to the'first to constrain the pusher pieces to move through a straight path at an acute angle to'the operative path from the point where the pusher pieces disengage the articles; and an element arranged to engage each pusher piece at the end of the opstraight operative path, another guide member downwardly disposed at an angle to the first to constrain the pusher pieces to move through a straight path at an acute angle to the-operative path from the point where the pusher pieces disengage the articles, each pusher. piece having a slot formed therein, and a fixed element-disposed near said-point engaging said slots todisengage each pusher piece from the article and direct it into the angularly disposed pathby a combined sliding and rotating movement aboutthe fixed element. I

- JOSEPH PERT. 

